OLG CEO Rod Phillips: We're not wedded to Toronto for casino location

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation is eyeing a casino in the GTA, but it is “not wedded to Toronto,” said its president and chief executive on Tuesday.

Rod Phillips said a facility outside the downtown core could even be more profitable for the province, due to lower overhead costs.

“We’ve always been clear that Toronto’s a great opportunity,” Mr. Phillips said at the Fairmont Royal York hotel, where he was delivering a speech to the Canadian Club of Toronto. “But, outside of Toronto, Markham, Vaughan, Mississauga are great opportunities too…. From a purely profitable perspective, outside of Toronto might be the better choice.”

Related

The bricks and mortar costs could be as much as $1-billion cheaper outside of the downtown core, Mr. Phillips said.

“[Downtown is] not the only opportunity, and we’re not wedded to Toronto.”

In March, the OLG announced plans to build a new casino in greater Toronto, but said it would not put one in a city that does not want one. The issue has triggered considerable debate in Toronto, with some supportive of new jobs a casino could generate while other residents worry over the impact on local businesses or problem gamblers.

Paul Godfrey, chairman of OLG and also president and chief executive of Postmedia Network Inc., the parent company of the National Post, has said that downtown Toronto is OLG’s first choice.

Caesars and MGM Resorts are among the firms that have expressed interest, with both preferring sites downtown.

Just last week, the mayor’s executive committee agreed to hold public consultations this winter, a move Mr. Phillips welcomed. “Toronto, I think, is on the right course… We just want to help them make that informed decision,” he said.

Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti said he understands why OLG may be skeptical of Toronto’s ability to get the necessary political support for the casino.

“It’s because of the dinosaurs on council that cause the OLG to think that,” he said. “Christmas is coming. We can either find a present under the tree that holds taxes at a freeze or we can find a present for taxpayers that means [they have to pay] more money.”

While Mr. Mammoliti is a strong proponent of a Toronto casino, any deal with OLG would hinge on variables such as location and how much Toronto would make. He estimates the casino could bring between $200-million and $500-million to the city annually.

“If the OLG can’t do that,” he said, “then they’ll have even me saying that Toronto should not have one.”

Fellow Councillor Adam Vaughan, a frequent casino critic, said if the OLG thinks it can make more profits outside the downtown core, the choice is clear.

“If the OLG is saying we can get more returns by locating [the casino] in a more discreet area … why are we having this debate? We can model the revenues and return higher returns to government by being more discreet, then let’s just be more discreet and get it over with.” He called for “a mature conversation, with real numbers on the table, and understand the cost-benefit analysis of putting it in different places.”

When Vaughan councillors met with OLG executives recently, the sense was that Toronto was the preferred destination but OLG would look elsewhere if necessary, said Thornhill Councillor Alan Shefman.

While there is opposition to locating a casino in Vaughan, mainly due to social issues, there is still an interest in examining the business benefits, he said. “We can’t ignore that, it’s irresponsible to ignore those…. The bottom line is, we want to be in the running.”